Keynote Lecture at Maths Games Event at Centre of Excellence (Mathematics) at East Zone

1. Games in Mathematics Yeap Ban Har Marshall Cavendish Institute Singapore banhar@sg.marshallcavendish.com Pathlight School Singapore banhar.yeap@pathlight.org.sg Keynote Lecture presented at COE@ZE Maths Games Event 6 September 2010

2. Example 1

3. Salute Salute! The product is 40. He has 2 and she has 4. What is my number?

4. Discussion Games can be used to increase opportunities for mental strategies. Games can be used to develop number sense.

5. Example 2

6. Sudoku with Cubes Fill in the nine spaces with numbers 1, 2 or 3 such that each row has each number exactly once.

7. Sudoku with Cubes 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2

8. Sudoku with Cubes 3 2 1 3 2 1 2 1 3

9. Discussion Games can be used to develop spatial visualization.

10. Example 3

11. Take One or Two Take turns to remove either one or two paper clips. The game is for two players. The winner is the player who remove the last paper clip(s). Start with any number of paper clips

12. What is the winning strategy?

22. What if the rule is changed? A player removes either one, two or three clips.

23. Discussion Games can be used to help student look for patterns and make generalization.

24. Example 4 This was not discussed during the lecture but I invite you to think how a traditional Southeast Asian game can be used to develop mathematical thinking.

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30. Conclusion

32. Games To develop number sense To develop spatial visualization To develop patterning and generalization